Lofoten Islands
Lofoten Islands is a map in Battlefield V introduced in September 2019 within the fourth chapter of Tides of War, Defying the Odds. The map takes place during , a British-led commando raid on the , lying off the northwest coast of Norway, occupied by Germany since 1940. The operation was the first large-scale British raiding action of the war, and was carried out on March 4th 1941 with the aim of destroying fish oil production and storage facilities that could be used for the manufacture of high explosives. The Allied success in Operation Claymore was followed up by further raids on the island in December 1941. Overview The Lofoten archipelago is unique amongst all Norwegian environments seen in game, being of temperate climate with no visible snow - a result of the inner islands of the fjord being sheltered by titanic surrounding mountains. There are more than half a dozen of these islands in total, each comprised of rocky cliffs and windswept meadows, lightly populated by vibrantly coloured wooden cabins, and linked together by roadways across narrow causeways. The many docks and fishing trawlers indicate the primary trade of the area and are used to service the islands' light industry, namely the fish oil refinement plant. To protect the plant from attack, the Germans set up vehicle checkpoints and have garrisoned some of the civilian homesteads, however the greatest symbol of the occupations comes in the form a battleship looming in the southern waters, enjoying the anti-naval protection offered by the sheltered bays. The map shares much of its architecture and aesthetics with the similarly located Halvøy. The map retains a similar close-quarters infantry focus to Provence, its counterpart from Defying the Odds, but is much more sparsely built-up and with sections of open grassland and coast. Like Provence it is also very small in terms of playable area, with only segments of two of the islands being accessible. Of its two available modes, Squad Conquest takes place on the coast of a large mountainous island that houses the fish oil factory, while Team Deathmatch occurs on the southernmost island in the midst of a small town. Squad Conquest Squad Conquest takes place around the fish oil plant, found on the northern island between the foot of a great mountain and the waters of the fjord. The military-converted installation is comprised of a number of structures along the pebble-strewn coast. These include dockyard facilities as well as the Fishmonger Warehouse, whilst further inland are a number of barracks and administration buildings, with guardposts scattered throughout. The oil is stored together in large tanks on the east side, bordering the two roads that pass through the complex. Craggy hills border the location in all directions except the Southern Coast. While the beach extends the length of the map and can be used to flank, there are no sections of water within boundaries deep enough for swimming. Deployments British Deployment The British raiders deploy outside the western vehicle checkpoint, at the opposite end of the Main Road, in an area known as North Hills. The rocky and uneven hillside can obfuscate the team's approach towards Communications, or be followed southwards to reach the coast. Lofoten Islands 05.png German Deployment The German base is on the east side of the facility. They spawn within a guardpost and Munitions storage area by some stilt houses adjacent to the fork between the Main Road and Factory Road. The location grants access to the map center via either the Factory Road or Southern Coast - in addition the team's spawn protection area includes hills to the north that lie parallel to Upper Vats, which can be used to close on the objective while in defilade. Lofoten Islands 14.png Flags A: Communications The Communications objective located on the west side of the map is centered on a single story, three-room building converted into a radio headquarters by the German occupiers. The building sits on stilts above a pit-like drainage channel known as the Runoff - this and the adjacent ridges form a sort of shallow gorge between the British spawn to the west and the rest of the map that connects to the pebble beach to the south. Those in the pit are therefore vulnerable to the elevated areas to its immediate sides, although players can hide underneath the comms building deck for protection. The flag can be captured from the Runoff itself or from within the building above, reachable using staircases on the north and south exterior. Conversely, the entire structure can be gutted with explosives as a means of denying cover to potential defenders. The flag lies beside the Main Road to the north, which offers a direct if highly exposed route to Upper Vats, while the Runoff can be used as cover on the approach to Fish Barn. Another stilt house is located outside the capture zone near the mouth of the Runoff, which allows defenders to block off the same route. An Ammo Cache is found outside this structure, listed as the Crab House. Lofoten Islands 16.png|Runoff Lofoten Islands 18.png Lofoten Islands 19.png|Communications Interior Lofoten Islands 06.png|Crab House and Fish Barn B: Fishmonger Warehouse The Fishmonger Warehouse, labelled on the map as the Fish Barn, is by the waterline in the center of the Southern Coast. It consists of a large dock area rising up from the beach that supports two buildings - a smaller outbuilding on the west side outside the capture zone, and the Barn itself, which is the biggest structure on the island and made up of two storys. The ground floor consists of an open area with two small side rooms in the northeast and northwest corners, overlooked by an upper loft area accessible by ladder or stairwell. Doors on the southern wall open up onto the dock itself, with an overhang from the loft above. The capture zone includes much of the dock platform to the building rear as well as the Fish Barn interior. The upper story can be a strong defensive position against the lower floor and decks, so long as it remains standing - like with Communications, the entirety of the Fish Barn can be levelled with destruction, leaving only a shell around the ground floor foundation. Unlike Communications however, the flag must be captured from the dock level and cannot be seized from the supporting stilts below. The Fishmonger Warehouse stands aside another similar dockyard location known as the Loading Dock, which offers a covered position from which to assault the Fish Barn, as well as an Ammo Cache. Both structures can be reached from the low ground via wooden stairs leading up from the beach. Lofoten Islands 09.png Lofoten Islands 12.png Lofoten Islands 13.png Lofoten Islands 11.png|Fish Barn interior Lofoten Islands 02.png|Loading Dock Lofoten Islands 10.png Lofoten Islands 03.png|Factory Road C: Upper Vats The Upper Vats objective is positioned on the northeast section of the play area, about a bend in the Main Road. The location can be clearly seen from afar, marked by three large tanks used for the storage of fish oil and refined glycerine. The vats are situated on the highest point of the inner facility, contained atop a high concrete foundation and surrounded to the north, east and south by a high wooden fence. The area overlooks a collection of three smaller containers to the south - metal staircases on this side are the only way up, while the foundation is level with the roadway to the northeast. Southwest of the Vats atop the concrete hill is the Upper Storage, consisting of a pumphouse used to transfer oil across the Factory Road via an overhead pipeline. The capture zone is on the northeast side of the area, around the back of the large Vats, which aside from a few lumber piles are the only cover objects in the vicinity. The aforementioned perimeter wall obfuscates line of sight into the point from the outside, at least until it is destroyed. Contrarily, the tanks themselves, despite containing highly volatile substances, cannot be destroyed or damaged in any way. The Upper Vats flag is separated from both the Communications objective to the west by the dividing Factory Road and Office location. Although this middle ground is largely open and exposed to fire from the raised foundations of the Vats area, much of the line of sight to Communications is blocked by the Office building and its perimeter wall. A watchtower directly next to the building can be scaled for a better vantage point. A Health station is also found nearby. Lofoten Islands 07.png Lofoten Islands 08.png Lofoten Islands 04.png Lofoten Islands 20.png|Factory Road and Office Team Deathmatch Team Deathmatch is located to a small, self-contained island on the southern edge of the archipelago. Unlike the highly developed complex from Squad Conquest, this island is home to a village of just over a dozen buildings, built alongside a modest network of paved and dirt roads. Surrounding these are grass-covered, rocky crags and misshapen hills, found in particular around the west and center, which slope down towards the coastline. Not all of the island is accessible however, as the hilltop church and western coastline is off-limits to players, wheras to the south, a German battleship can be seen moored close to the island's southern coast. The island can be split up into several areas. The North Hills, which somehow comprises much of the west and southwest of the play area, are a set of uneven, highly exposed hillocks strewn with boulders but otherwise lacking in vegetation. These outlying meadows, which have large distances between structures and are dotted in places with rows of wooden drying racks, slope gradually downhill towards the coasts to the north and south. On the northern coast is the Marketplace, with twin structures and a length of dock used to moor a fishing boat. A similar setup is found on the east coast, where stilt houses with Dry Docks lie adjacent to the Dock Road, the inaccessible Main Road bridge and the muddy flats of the beach. The largest collection of houses are around the map center, where six houses are pressed together along a single central street with very short distances between them. Almost all structures in the village have individual names - with Sprigg's House and the empty lot at the Main Road-Marketplace junction, the Mayor's House and Tavern in the village center, and Eirik's House on the southeast side by the Access Road. In the middle of town adjacent to the Tavern is a storage area for Munitions, marked by a cluster of parked military trucks enveloped by camouflage netting. Unsurprisingly, the built up nature of the main map body lends itself mostly to close-quarters infantry engagements, where explosive gadgets can be of great help in separating enemies from the majority of environmental cover, the buildings. Players should be cautious not just of enemies inside the buildings, but also atop their roofs or, in the case of coastal structures, beneath their foundations. Despite this, the more open areas around the coastline and North Hills can enable long-range engagements to take place, particularly as the area is at a higher elevation than the rest of the town. Gallery BF5 Lofoten Islands.PNG Lofoten Islands Promotional 01.png Lofoten Islands Promotional 02.png Lofoten Islands 15.png Lofoten Islands 26.png Lofoten Islands 21.png Lofoten Islands 34.png Lofoten Islands 30.png Lofoten Islands 28.png Lofoten Islands 23.png|South Coast Lofoten Islands 24.png|East Coast Lofoten Islands 25.png|Main Road and East Racks Lofoten Islands 27.png|North Hills and West Racks Lofoten Islands 33.png|Market Lofoten Islands 29.png|Dry Dock Lofoten Islands 31.png|Central Road and Mayor's House Lofoten Islands 32.png|Munitions Lofoten Islands 35.png|''Tirpitz'' Trivia *The map's internal name is MP_Norway. *Along with Provence, this map was originally designed for a cut 5v5 competitive gamemode.Battlefield V 2019 Roadmap: Every Chapter Brings a New BattlefieldLetters from the Front: Update on Battlefield V with Ryan McArthur *Lofoten Islands was scheduled for release on August 27th 2019 along with Provence, however the delay of the 4.4 patch postponed its release until September 3rd 2019. *The German warship to the south of the Team Deathmatch island is modelled after the , possibly representing the Tirpitz which would have just finished sea trials in Norway by early March 1941. References Category:Maps of Battlefield V Category:Battlefield V: Defying The Odds